Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows
Tess Abrahamson-Richards
Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services
Director of Data Sovereignty
Washington
Gayatri Agnew
Walmart
Senior Director and Head of Accessibility
Arkansas
Katie Albright
UC Berkeley EXCEL
Executive Director
California
Phyllis Albritton
Colorado Safety Net Collaborative
Managing Consultant
Colorado
Cara Aley
Global Operations Consultant
Maryland
Darneshia Allen
ZERO TO THREE
Training and Technical Assistance Integration Manager
Arkansas
Kwame Anku
Black Star Fund
CEO and Chairman
California
John Annis
Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation
Senior VP, Collaboration and Impact
Florida
Erin Arango-Escalante
All Children Thrive
Founder & Principal
Wisconsin
Jovanna Archuleta
LANL Foundation
Early Childhood Community Outreach Director
New Mexico
Deana Around Him
Child Trends
Research Scholar
Maryland
Anthony Barrows
Project Evident
Managing Partner & Founder, Center for Behavioral Design & Social Justice
New York
Katherine Beckmann
The David & Lucile Packard Foundation
National Policy Director for Children and Families
California
Chris Bennett
Wonderschool
CEO & Co-Founder
California
Kristin Bernhard
Primrose Schools
Executive Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Advocacy
Georgia
Jamal Berry
Educare, DC
President and CEO
District of Columbia
Reggie Bicha
American Public Human Services Association
President and CEO
Colorado
Matthew Biel
Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN) at Georgetown University
Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
District of Columbia
Mia Birdsong
Next River
Executive Director
California
Nia Bodrick
Children’s National Hospital
General Pediatrician
District of Columbia
Clinton Boyd, Jr.
Chapin Hall & Fathers, Families, & Healthy Communities
Researcher & Executive Director
Illinois
Melanie Bridgeforth
Women’s Foundation of Alabama
President and CEO
Alabama
Laurie Brotman
Department of Population Health NYU School of Medicine
Bezos Family Foundation Professor of Early Childhood Development
New York
Erin Brown
The Colorado Health Foundation
Vice President, Community Investment & Impact
Colorado
Ascend Fellows are a community of values-driven leaders who share an unwavering commitment to our shared goal of intergenerational family prosperity and well-being.